At the beginning of this week’s parshah, we learn about the confrontation between Jacob and Esau, his brother. To recall the history between them: Jacob had received blessings from his father, Isaac, when these blessings were originally meant for Esau. Esau, convinced that Jacob had stolen his rightfully earned blessings, became enraged and had it in his heart to kill Jacob. Because of this, Jacob ran away from Esau. They encounter eachother more than 30 years after Jacob fled; and it is in this week’s parshah that this event unfolds…
When Jacob hears that Esau is approaching him with an army of 400 men, he becomes very frightened. The Torah describes the words of prayer that Jacob expresses before the climactic meeting with Esau:
“And Jacob said ‘God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac…Rescue me, please, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear him lest he come and strike me down…’ ” [Genesis: 32: 10 – 13]
Two questions may be asked regarding this prayer. Firstly, if one were read the next few verses, it would be noticed that God does not reply to Jacob’s request. We have already seen in previous verses that God is on speaking terms with Jacob, so why doesn’t He say anything here? Secondly, since Jacob is addressing God, it would’ve been appropriate for the verse to say: “And Jacob said to God…”! Why are these words left out? Although he does indeed say in his prayers “God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac”, the verse nevertheless intimates that, in some way, God does not receive the prayer; why?
